Now then, the progress...
Picture of the console all together one more time. It is nearly ready to install for the final time !
One of the two aluminum plates Jon whipped up for me...
Here's the HVAC control face, the aluminum plate Jon made, and another powerpoint that is going in the plate. This sits at the very back of the console and is mostly not seen. I did find having another powerpoint would be desirable for me so...
A picture of the HVAC control face showing how the mounting tabs are angled to the face.
Backside of the rear console piece with both OEM faceplates screwed in with the aluminum plates sandwiched between the controls face and the console.
The outside of the rear console piece with the aluminum plates installed and painted. I looked around at my inventory of bomb cans and finally decided on the can of black wrinkle paint. Shot'em, let them dry for a day, and here's the result.
Rear console piece with the powerpoint installed.
The Expedition inside passenger seat track. The seat belt buckle is bolted to the seat track via a heavy bracket that is attached to the seat track itself. This makes for a much cleaner installation.
A closeup of the seat track/seat belt.
Passenger seat installed with seat belt.
Some might say that attaching the seat belt buckle to the seat track is not a good idea. Can't say one way or the other but it's how the drivers seat belt buckle is attached from the factory so I'd have'ta say that it's okay. Picture of the driver seat.
Picture of the passenger seat pan with seat belt buckle and center console installed. The color mismatch in the console and the dash always looks real bad in photos but the mismatch is not as bad as these photos make it look.
Closeup of seat belt buckle showing sufficient clearance between the console and the seat belt.
One more shot of the console from the drivers side. I'm thinkin' this is the last time for fitting. The next time the console goes in it will be for good ! Well, at least for awhile....
The seat belt issue. Other how-to's advise to heat up the plastic housing for the seat belt from the passenger side to take the 90 degree twist out of the plastic. Also the bottom of the plastic housing must be cut off. Additionally, the seat belt buckle for the center seat is in this same plastic housing and can't be removed without taking the twist out. Others have commented it doesn't come out very good but you can't see the heated and untwisted area anyway. Here's a pic of the OEM seatbelt that has been heated to untwist the plastic housing, had the bottom piece cutoff, and the extra seat belt buckle removed.
Using the Expedition seat track is a MUCH better way to take care of the seat belt issue with this conversion.
At this point, I'm thinking it may be easier to pickup an Expedition passenger side seat from a junkyard, oops, that's last century lingo, rather an auto dismantler. Getting a complete seat assembly including the seat tracks and seat to floor mounts would be less expensive than ordering up all the parts. I'm guessing a passenger side manual (not power) captain chair from a 2000 to 2002 Expy would do the trick.
